Of the estimated 400 lost at sea from this one incident 40 were children, survivors say. As always, those who could not afford a position on deck were locked in the hold and died trapped there when the boat flipped Thursday. Those people would be the women and children.
One old fishing trawler was towing another with a rope because it had started to take on water and was sinking. Then the blue-painted wooden trawler capsized. Three hundred people were locked in the hold. Those on deck tried to save themselves and watched while their children and fellow immigrants drowned before their eyes.
Rescuers collected 45 bodies from the sea. Survivors' stories concur that about 400 people were lost at sea and at least 40 of them were children.
In just the past few days, more than 12,000 people made the dangerous journey from the coasts of North Africa to Sicily.
Just eight hours had passed since the immigrants set sail from the beach at Sabratha, in Libya.Two large trawlers and a rubber raft set out simultaneouslyThat night traffickers were able to shove 1,100 immigrants onto the three vessels, 500 on each wooden trawler and a hundred on the raft. fifty people at a time were loaded onto small rafts and made to board the tralers and large raft. After 8 hours of sailing the second trawler towed by a rope began to take on water and sink and the immigrants who could, terrorized, began to jump off the boat in a desperate attempt to reach the twin boat ahead of them. Many drowned in this first phase of the incident, all the others drowed or died about ten minutes later when, on the boat that was towing them, the trafficker, a Sudanese man who was later identified and arrested by the mobile police squad of Ragusa upon their arrival at Pozzallo, gave the order to an immigrant to cut the rope cable that linked the two boats, letting the second boat sink in just a few minutes. Those locked in the hull didn't even know what had happened above decks. Rescuers recouped the body of a woman who was nearly decapitated by the cut rope cable.
I wonder if this will make the U.S. news, and if not, why not?
Click on the caption to read the story in La Repubblica in Italian.
One old fishing trawler was towing another with a rope because it had started to take on water and was sinking. Then the blue-painted wooden trawler capsized. Three hundred people were locked in the hold. Those on deck tried to save themselves and watched while their children and fellow immigrants drowned before their eyes.
Rescuers collected 45 bodies from the sea. Survivors' stories concur that about 400 people were lost at sea and at least 40 of them were children.
In just the past few days, more than 12,000 people made the dangerous journey from the coasts of North Africa to Sicily.
Just eight hours had passed since the immigrants set sail from the beach at Sabratha, in Libya.Two large trawlers and a rubber raft set out simultaneouslyThat night traffickers were able to shove 1,100 immigrants onto the three vessels, 500 on each wooden trawler and a hundred on the raft. fifty people at a time were loaded onto small rafts and made to board the tralers and large raft. After 8 hours of sailing the second trawler towed by a rope began to take on water and sink and the immigrants who could, terrorized, began to jump off the boat in a desperate attempt to reach the twin boat ahead of them. Many drowned in this first phase of the incident, all the others drowed or died about ten minutes later when, on the boat that was towing them, the trafficker, a Sudanese man who was later identified and arrested by the mobile police squad of Ragusa upon their arrival at Pozzallo, gave the order to an immigrant to cut the rope cable that linked the two boats, letting the second boat sink in just a few minutes. Those locked in the hull didn't even know what had happened above decks. Rescuers recouped the body of a woman who was nearly decapitated by the cut rope cable.
I wonder if this will make the U.S. news, and if not, why not?
Click on the caption to read the story in La Repubblica in Italian.